{{Short description|American businessman}} {{Infobox person | name = Herbert A. Allen Jr. | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1940}} | birth_place = | birth_name = | education = Williams College <small>(B.A.)</small> | occupation = | known_for = Former president of Allen & Company | children = 4, including Herbert Allen III | spouse = {{plainlist| * Laura Parrish * {{marriage|Ann Reinking<br>|1982|1989|end=div}} * Gail Holmes }} | father = Herbert A. Allen Sr. | website = }}
'''Herbert A. Allen Jr.''' (born 1940) is an American businessman and former president of Allen & Company.
==Biography== Herbert Allen Jr. is the son of Kathleen and Herbert A. Allen Sr. His father was a high school drop out and stock trader who joined<ref name=NYTHerbertSrObituary>[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/23/nyregion/herbert-allen-sr-88-an-early-specialist-in-corporate-takeovers.html New York Times: "Herbert Allen Sr., 88, an Early Specialist in Corporate Takeovers" By LESLIE EATON] January 23, 1997</ref> in 1927 an investment firm founded in 1922 by his older brother Charles, Allen & Company.<ref name=Forbes2008>[https://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Herbert-Allen-Jr-family_1I2Q.html Forbes: "The World's Billionaires - #605 Herbert Allen Jr & family] March 5, 2008</ref> Allen & Company specialized in corporate buyouts.<ref name=NYTHerbertSrObituary /><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/17/obituaries/charles-allen-jr-91-founder-of-investment-company-is-dead.html New York Times: "Charles Allen Jr., 91, Founder Of Investment Company, Is Dead" By RICHARD D. LYONS] July 17, 1994</ref> A third brother Harold joined soon after.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/28/classified/paid-notice-deaths-allen-harold.html New York Times: "Paid Notice: Deaths ALLEN, HAROLD"] August 28, 2002</ref> Allen Jr. has one sister, Susan Allen.<ref name=NYTHerbertSrObituary /> His mother was an Irish Catholic and his father - although the son of a Jewish mother - was a non-practicing Unitarian.<ref name=Auletta>[http://www.kenauletta.com/theconsigliere.html New Yorker Magazine: "THE CONSIGLIERE - There are big decisions yet to be made in the MCA-Seagram deal, and they may all involve Herbert Allen" BY KEN AULETTA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319011839/http://www.kenauletta.com/theconsigliere.html |date=2018-03-19 }} MAY 22, 1995 |''"Herbert spent a good part of his childhood in the leafy Westchester suburb of Irvington. His father's mother "was Jewish--we think," Allen says. His father became a nonpracticing Unitarian--an agnostic, that is. Herbert's mother was an Irish Catholic, and she had her daughter and her son baptized in the church, but, like his father, Herbert abhorred the structure and the discipline of formal religion. "It's like digging potatoes," he says. "You can do it one day and then you get the idea."''</ref>
Allen Jr. was raised in Irvington, New York<ref name=Auletta /> and graduated from Williams College in 1962 and immediately joined Allen & Company. In 1966, at age twenty-seven, he was appointed President.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1966/08/08/archives/27yearold-president-elected-by-allen-co.html New York Times: "27-Year-Old President Elected by Allen & Co."] August 8, 1966</ref> In 1973, Allen & Company purchased a controlling interest in Columbia Pictures.<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060110084632/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/06/28/374371/index.htm Fortune: "Inside the Private World of Allen & Co. Putting a premium on personal ties, this family firm thrives in the land of the giants" By Carol J. Loomis] June 28, 2004</ref> In 1982, Allen & Company launched the Sun Valley Conference and The Coca-Cola Company bought Columbia for $750 million in cash and stock<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> giving Allen Jr. a seat on the Board of Directors.<ref name=Forbes2008 />
In 2002, Allen Jr. ceded control of the firm to his son Herbert Allen III.<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld/>
==Philanthropy== In 1998, he donated $20 million to Williams College.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PBEB&p_theme=pbeb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=119C9787B1B7C0B0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM The Berkshire Eagle, June 15, 2007]</ref>
==Personal life== Allen has been married and divorced three times. His first wife was Laura Parrish;<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> they have four children: Herbert Allen III is married to Monica de la Torre, a public-interest lawyer and native of Puerto Rico;<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> Charles Allen works at Allen & Co. as an institutional salesman<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> and in 2005, married Kristin Wheat Fisher in a Methodist ceremony;<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/fashion/weddings/15fish.html?gwh=6F65A6C753D039D9CF4D1008A4FCD164 New York Times: "Kristin Fisher and Charles Allen"] May 15, 2005</ref> Leslie Allen; and Christie Allen.<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> His second wife was Broadway dancer Ann Reinking,<ref name=CNNPrivateWorld /> whom he married in 1982 and divorced in 1989. After 1989 he married and has since divorced Gail Holmes. He resides in Cody, Wyoming.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/06/28/374371/index.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110084632/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/06/28/374371/index.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 10, 2006 | title=Inside the Private World of Allen & Co. Putting a premium on personal ties, this family firm thrives in the land of the giants. - June 28, 2004 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Herbert Jr.}} Category:Living people
Category:Bankers from New York (state) Category:American investors Category:Directors of Coca-Cola Category:Stock and commodity market managers Category:Williams College alumni Category:American bank presidents Category:American billionaires Category:1940 births Herbert Jr.